AT&T, U.S. Ask Judge to Deny Google Entry Into T-Mobile Case

Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- AT&T Inc. and the U.S. asked the
federal judge overseeing the government’s lawsuit seeking to
block the company’s purchase of T-Mobile USA Inc. to deny a bid
by Google Inc. to enter the case to protect its confidential
data.

In separate filings in Washington today, AT&T and the
Justice Department told U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle
that Google’s request for advance notice of possible disclosures
of “competitively sensitive” data is unnecessary and would
slow down the litigation.

AT&T said in the filing that its ability to select expert
witnesses could be harmed by Google’s proposal that non-parties
in the case get five days’ notice before confidential data is
turned over to its experts.

“This proposal would grant every non-party the effective
ability to veto defendant’s choice of experts, by denying them
access to confidential information that is necessary to their
work as experts in this case,” Mark Hansen, of Kellogg, Huber,
Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel PLLC in Washington, a lawyer for
AT&T, said in the filing.

Last month, Google, which provided the information to the
Justice Department in its investigation of the proposed T-Mobile
deal, asked Huvelle to amend her order governing confidential
data in the case, claiming that “without such additional
protection, Google and other non-parties could find their
confidential information -- such as Google’s business plans
related to Android -- in the hands of competitors.”

Reduce Competition

The Justice Department sued Dallas-based AT&T and Bonn-based Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile unit on Aug. 31, saying a
combination of the two companies would “substantially” reduce
competition. Seven states and Puerto Rico joined the
government’s effort to block the deal, which would make AT&T the
biggest U.S. wireless carrier.

In its filing, the Justice Department and the states said
the protective order in the case already offers Google and other
non-parties protection from confidential material being publicly
released in filings and during court proceedings.

The parties are required to file confidential data under
seal and Huvelle has the authority to close the courtroom if
such material is going to be discussed, they said.

Google asked Huvelle to require the parties to give three
days’ advance notice before confidential information is filed or
discussed before trial and one day’s notice before confidential
information is discussed at trial.

Advance Notice

“It is impractical to require by court order that the
parties provide advance notice of every instance where a
confidential document” might be used, the government said in
its filing.

AT&T and the government said witnesses must agree to keep
the information secret before receiving confidential data and
face possible civil or criminal penalties if they misuse that
data.

AT&T claims that Google’s proposal would require it to
reveal its expert witnesses and potential testifying experts to
dozens of non-parties before court-imposed deadlines on when
those identities must be disclosed. That, according to the
government’s filing, would reveal the parties’ litigation
strategies.